Raised by Wolves

by Geonn Cannon

  “Everything you tell me is confidential. I’m good at forgetting things that aren’t important to the case.”

  Evelyn took another moment, obviously still reluctant to give up her secret. Finally she sighed. “When Preston was seventeen, Mom caught him with a girl in his room. I don’t know the exact details, thank God, but I know enough to be sure they weren’t just studying. Eleanor claims there was full nudity involved. Mom gave him a slap on the wrist. Grounded for a month, no TV, no car privileges.”

  “Seems reasonable, I guess.”

  “Sure,” Evelyn said. “Unless you’re Elizabeth, who had been caught a year earlier kissing her study buddy in our room. They were just making out, but Mom went ballistic. Elizabeth was confined to the house from the minute she got home from school to the second she left again. Her phone was taken away. Her car was taken away. I overheard her talking to Dad about boarding school, but he talked her out of it. That lasted for the rest of the school year.”

  Ari said, “That sounds awful.”

  “It could have been worse,” Evelyn said. “I was pissed off enough by it that I went out and got my hair cut just like Ellie’s. If there was something she needed to do out of the house, we switched clothes and she went out while I sulked around upstairs slamming doors. It took Mom a few months to catch on, but when she did, she almost grounded me for aiding and abetting. Dad talked her out of that, too.”

  “Why was the response so different? Please don’t tell me it’s just because Elizabeth was with a girl.”

  “Ellie made the same argument when Preston escaped the same treatment. Mom denied it. She said she’d seen how Ellie and I conspired to get around the punishment so it was pointless to try it again on Preston. ‘I won’t become a warden in my own home.’ Meanwhile, when she found out Ellie and I were swapping places, she started examining our faces every time we left the house. It was like having airport security stationed at your front door.”

  “Your own mother couldn’t tell you apart?”

  “To be fair to her, we were trying to trick her. Same makeup, same hair, swapping clothes. With the right makeup, Eleanor might even have been able to pass for one of us. Anyway, she said there was no point to go through all of that again. Mind you, this was just a year later. Ellie’s prison sentence was basically just ending. And here was a new offender getting off with basically a warning. Ellie and Preston’s relationship never really recovered from that.”

  “I can imagine. So you and your mother never had a final conversation?”

  “I didn’t need one. I didn’t have anything to tell her, she didn’t have anything to tell me. We had a perfectly neutral relationship. We loved each other. I miss her. I’m sad she’s gone, but I love that she went out on her own terms. That’s how I’d want to do it if I’m ever in the same position.”

  Ari nodded. “Wait, you and your sisters had lunch with Vivian on Friday?” Evelyn nodded. “That’s the day her housekeeper left the skeleton key at the house. If you were all at Canlis, Preston could have gotten into the house and grabbed the key. He would have known he was about to be evicted and the house would be empty after Sunday.”

  “But how would he know the key would be there?”

  “He may have just gotten lucky. Trust me, luck has been working very strangely in this case.”

  She thanked Evelyn for her time and paid for their drinks. On her way out of the restaurant she saw that she’d missed a text from Dale. She got into her car and watched Evelyn walking away as she returned the call.

  “Go to your mother’s,” Dale said as soon as she picked up.

  “What happened?”

  “Nothing yet,” Dale said, “but the longer you wait, the bigger the conversation has to be. Get out in front of it. You don’t have to apologize, but let her know you aren’t going to run away again. She’s already lost you once. She’s probably terrified it will happen again.”

  Ari pressed her lips together. She wanted to argue, get angry, refuse, but she knew that was just the childish part of her brain rebelling.

  “You can’t order me around just because we’re engaged now.”

  “Sure I can,” Dale said cheerfully. “But only because I could order you around before, and it carries over into the engagement.”

  Ari fought a laugh. “It’s a good thing you know all these relationship rules. I haven’t even heard of half of them.”

  “That’s what I’m here for.”

  Ari’s original plan was to call Elizabeth and see if she could find out what happened with Vivian at the Chihuly exhibit, but Dale was right. She needed to set things right with her own mother. Or at least as right as they could be, for the time being.

  Traffic meant that it took her over half an hour to reach her mother’s house, and she spent the entire trip rehearsing what she was going to say. She hadn’t come up with anything that sounded remotely worthy by the time she parked at the curb, but she walked up the driveway regardless, hoping that whatever came from her heart would be good enough. She knocked on the door and took a step back, knowing it would be inappropriate to just walk in after the way they’d let things.

  The door opened just enough for Milo to press her shoulder against the jamb. “She doesn’t want to talk with you right now.”

  “Yeah, I don’t really want to talk to her, either. But Dale thinks I should, and when Dale suggests something, she usually knows what she’s talking about.”

  Milo nodded. Some of her defensiveness faded, and she looked past Ari at the street. “I thought Gwen should talk to you, too. We stayed up talking about it all night, and she only just went to bed. She was pretty bloody pissed last night, so while I’m trying to stay neutral, I’m not about to put my head on her chopping block.”

  “Smart. You have to side with her, I get it.” She sighed. “Look, it’s probably best we don’t see each other right now. But let her know I’m not going anywhere. I’m mad but this isn’t something I’m going to destroy our relationship over. I did it once before and she might be afraid I’ll do it again.”

  “She’ll be relieved to hear that. Dinner was good last night, though. Domestic. I liked it. When things settle down, we should do it again.”

  Ari said, “I think I can make that promise.”

  “Thanks for coming by. It’ll mean a lot to her. Eventually.”

  “Yeah,” Ari laughed, “I know the feeling. Take care of her for me, Milo.”

  “Always, pup.”

  She was back in her car and driving up Lake Washington Boulevard when her phone rang. She put it on the hands-free hook and answered on speaker.

  “This is Ariadne Willow.”

  “Evie just called,” Elizabeth said without preamble. “She said she told you about my relationship with our mother and everything that happened. I think you need to know the whole story.”

  Ari said, “I’m more than willing to hear it. Where are you? I can come to you right now.”

  ###

  Elizabeth was staying at the W, which was around the corner from where Eleanor was staying at the Hotel Monaco. Ari wondered if they could see each other’s rooms out their windows. Elizabeth also had a suite on a high floor, indicating their mother hadn’t played favorites with the girls. She remembered Evelyn was at the Executive Hotel Pacific, which was on the same block. Vivian might not have trusted them under the same roof, but she apparently wanted to keep them close to each other.

  Ari knocked, and Elizabeth answered the door in a plush white robe. Her hair was a mess, loose tangles on the sides and held by a clip on top. She held up one hand before Ari could say anything.

  “This isn’t a seduction, despite how I acted at the pool hall yesterday. This is a hangover and sleeping until about forty-five minutes ago.”

  “If this could be confused for your seduction look, I feel bad for your sex life.”

  Elizabeth laughed and motioned Ari in. She went into the bathroom and pointed at the sitting area on the other side of the bed. “Have a seat.
I’m going to finish putting myself together.”

  Ari went to the window and looked out. The Hotel Monaco was indeed visible, but she couldn’t remember which direction Eleanor’s room faced.

  “How much did Evie tell you?” Elizabeth called from the bathroom.

  “The girl in your room, your mother freaking out and putting you on house arrest. Then Preston pulling the same stunt, only worse, and getting a fraction of the punishment.”

  Elizabeth said, “I was kissing my study partner. Preston was naked on top of a girl from school and had her half-naked as well.”

  “Evelyn was under the impression it was because you were kissing a girl.”

  “She’s right. Mom told me on Friday. That’s what our conversation was about.” She came out of the bathroom in a lace top and slacks. Her hair had been tamed and pulled back. Now this, Ari thought, was a seduction look. “She told me that she was harsher on me than she was on Preston because it was a girl. She told me she didn’t want me to be gay. She thought a strict punishment would scare me into not being a lesbian anymore.”

  Ari thought back to her brief meeting with Vivian. “That’s awful. I know I barely knew her, but I thought my radar for homophobia was better than that. Normally I can sniff people like that out.”

  “Oh, she would have been fine with you being gay. She didn’t hate gay people in general. Just in the family. Do you want to know what we talked about at Chihuly? How sad she was that the family line would end with us. How at least Preston, Ellie, and Eleanor were doing their best but I wasn’t even trying to continue the family line.”

  Elizabeth sat on the foot of the bed and looked at her reflection in the television.

  “My mother flew me out here and put me up in this hotel so she could tell me, in no uncertain terms, about how disappointed she was in me for being gay.”

  Ari didn’t know how to respond to that. She didn’t think there was a proper response. So she walked over to the bed and put her hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. Elizabeth tensed, turned her head away, and then Ari felt a shudder, and then Elizabeth began to cry.

  Chapter Fifteen

  After Elizabeth composed herself, she went into the bathroom to splash some water on her face. She was dabbing at her cheeks with the towel when she came back, smiling bashfully.

  “Have you ever actually done that? Splashed cold water on your face?”

  “Sure,” Ari said. “I kept seeing it in movies and wanted to know if it really worked. It feels kind of good.”

  Elizabeth laughed and sat on the bed again. Ari remained standing, leaning against the entertainment center.

  “I want you to understand Mom isn’t a bad or hateful person. She wasn’t even cruel when she said it. She was just telling me to clear the air. Letting me know. I let her know that some things are better left unsaid. Sometimes a deathbed confession can just be silence.”

  Ari said, “Did she do the same thing to your sisters or Preston?”

  “If she did, they didn’t mention it. Just like I didn’t mention this to them. I know Eleanor invited Evelyn to come along to their dinner. She may have been trying to prevent a conversation like mine.” She sniffled and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I don’t know what any of this has to do with the tapestry.”

  “To be honest, neither do I. Right now I’m just trying to bury myself with information and hoping I can find a motive for someone to have taken it. But the more I learn, the less I believe any of you actually wanted the damn thing.”

  Elizabeth said, “That’s accurate, I think. You have to understand, it’s been in our family for years. It was just part of the scenery. We knew it was worth a lot, but none of us really thought of it as a priceless piece of art until Mom told us about this whole crazy situation with you holding the key.”

  “It was all a bit dramatic, wasn’t it?” Ari said. “Summoning everyone to the house and then revealing it was going to charity. She spent a lot of money on that little stunt. Hiring me, bringing you and your sisters to town. I doubt this room was cheap, and you’ve been here for a week. How much of that did Vivian pay for?”

  “All of it.”

  Ari furrowed her brow. “What?”

  “I have the room until Wednesday.” She shrugged. “I figured she was just covering her bases if any of us fought over the will, or it took us longer than expected to go through the house and get what we wanted. Maybe it was just in case we got into a fight over something. Not that there’s anything in the house I’d want enough to fight over.”

  “That’s a lot of money for a ‘just in case,’” Ari said. “She knew when she was going to end her life, and she knew when the will was going to be read. So why would she pay for so many extra days?” She remembered her own paycheck. “She paid me for two extra weeks...”

  Elizabeth said, “What do you mean?”

  “When she wrote out the check, she said it was to retain my services for eight weeks. It was the end of the sixth week when I got the call about her passing.”

  “So she wanted us all to be here for a week after we found out she was giving Crossing-Over Place to the museum, and she also knew you would still be working the case afterward. Do...” She made a face. “Do you think she knew the tapestry was missing?”

  Ari said, “I’m really starting to wonder...”

  ###

  “Anecdotal evidence suggests canidae society is matriarchal. The ability to transform is passed along by the mother, who is then charged with the young wolf’s training. The father’s responsibility is protection of the pack and the hunting. While the male may seem to be powerful, he is noise and bluster and only acts at the command of his bitch.”

  Dale glanced up from the essay as Ari came into the office. The security footage was still scrolling on her laptop screen - Vivian’s on the left, Fitz’s on the right - and she was watching it from her periphery while she read. She rubbed her eyes and reached for a bottle of aspirin she kept in her bottom drawer.

  “Hey, puppy.”

  Ari put down her bag and leaned across the desk to kiss Dale hello. “Everything okay?” she asked, nodding at the bottle.

  “Yeah. Headache. Eye strain. Lots of reading and blurry videos to watch.”

  “Are you finding anything interesting, at least?”

  “On the tapes or in the essays?”

  “Either.”

  Dale sighed. “Not really. Magnusson really likes referring to female canidae as bitches.”

  “Well, it’s accurate.” Ari went into her office to hang up her jacket, then returned. “We can’t complain too much because it’s the name of our agency.”

  “Maybe it’s because a man is using it.”

  Ari shrugged. “That does make a difference.”

  “How about you?” Dale said. “Anything on the tapestry?”

  “Possibly. There’s evidence Vivian planned to keep the kids in town for an extra week. She paid for all their hotel rooms until next Wednesday.”

  Dale said, “Maybe she just overestimated, the way she did with our payment. Maybe she wanted to be sure there was enough time for everything to be settled.”

  “I considered that. But it feels calculated. And at least it’s something to grab onto, which is more than I can say about most of this case.” She looked at the screens. “Anything here?”

  “Nope. Typical suburban life, but with much higher property taxes.”

  Ari held out her hand. “Do you have the markers for the dry erase board?”

  Dale found them in the drawer. Ari took black, red, and blue and went into her office. Dale paused the tapes and followed her in, sitting on the couch with her knees drawn up to her chest. Ari propped the board up against the wall and began to draw an overhead view of the Burroughs house. She was almost done when Dale tilted her head.

  “Which way is north?”

  Ari tapped the left side of the board. “Here.”

  “Why not put it at the top?”

  “Because... I... the neigh
borhood... when I drove up to the house...” She waved her hands. “This way is north because that’s how I’ve already drawn the map, okay?”

  “Okay!”

  “Can I finish?”

  “Who’s stopping you?”

  Ari glared at her, sighed heavily, and went back to drawing. When she finished, she put down the black marker and drew a red cone stretching out from the front porch. Then she traded red for blue and made another cone, this one stretching from Fitz’s property. It covered most of the western side of Vivian’s property, with only a portion of the backyard out of range. It obviously couldn’t see anything on the opposite side of the house. When she was finished, she stepped back and examined the finished product.

  “Fitz’s information is suspect, at best, but we do have occasional views of the house during the week since Vivian passed away. It’s Swiss cheese, but it’s better than being totally blind. Someone got into the house at some point during the past six weeks. They got into the study - how doesn’t matter right now, but we know there was another key in play, so we can assume whoever it was used it. They took down the tapestry, rolled it up or put it in a carrying case, or transported it somehow. It had to be heavy...”

  Dale said, “Do you know the exact dimensions?”

  “No.”

  She got up and went to Ari’s computer. “I can look it up. Something that old and historic has to be chronicled somewhere on the internet.” She typed a bit, clicked and backed up. “Here we go, Crossing-Over Place. It’s six feet by four feet... wow, so even rolled up, it would be about as long as carrying a body. I think we’re looking at two people. Yes, someone could have carried it out of there by themselves, but not easily.”

  Ari twisted her lips and stared at the map. “There’s a very small window where they couldn’t be seen. And whoever it was, even if they knew about the camera over the front door, they wouldn’t have known to avoid Fitz’s camera, too.”